Editorial: Replace OCCC with Halawa jail

Nine months after tagging the state Animal Quarantine Station grounds in Halawa Valley as the tentative replacement site for Oahu’s aging and overcrowded jail, Gov. David Ige has signed off on the final environmental impact statement, bringing the state a step closer to the much-needed move.

Deplorable conditions at Oahu Community Correctional Center must be put right. The 40-year-old OCCC, which was housing 1,222 inmates earlier this week, was originally designed for 628 but modified over the years to hold about 950.

The next step involves securing the 2019 Legislature’s backing on a funding plan for the proposed $525 million project. There, Ige, who has made construction of a new jail a priority in recent years, will likely get push-back from some lawmakers who want to first size up forthcoming reports about possible corrections reforms.

Among them: needed changes in Hawaii’s criminal pretrial practices, such as doing away with much of the so-called “money bail” system. It unfairly penalizes a cash-strapped accused person who poses no apparent flight risk or danger to the public because the system relies heavily on financial status in deciding whether an arrestee goes home or stays in jail.

While it’s true that these report findings could prompt legislative and judiciary shifts that, in turn, affect behind-bars population projections and other plans for OCCC, such efforts could move forward concurrently with brick-and-mortar jail upgrades.

The state has grappled with the issue of jail relocation for at least 15 years. Further delay could increase vulnerability to lawsuits and federal intervention. Last year the ACLU filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice asking that it investigate “unsanitary and unsafe” conditions at the state’s correctional facilities. Officials have said chronic overcrowding at OCCC often looks like this: three inmates spending much of the day together in a cell — 8 feet by 10 feet — with a double bunk, a toilet/sink combo and a small writing desk.

Also, efficiency snags are adding up to an enormous waste of state funds. OCCC’s outdated design consists of 19 modules, with each guarded by a separate team of officers. By contrast, the medium-security wing at Halawa Correctional Facility, the state’s newest, has just four modules. Officials have griped that it takes about 100 more correctional officers at OCCC to guard the same number of inmates at the state prison, which opened in 1987.

Further prodding jail relocation are transit-oriented development plans, which promise fresh economic opportunity and more affordable housing. The path for the city’s elevated rail project is slated to cross land near the 16-acre OCCC site in Kalihi.

While jail relocation supporters have solid reasons for pressing forward, they must also do more to convince opponents that a new OCCC can correct problems that have festered in the deteriorating jail.

Among the worthy calls for reform: reducing the inmate population, including pretrial inmates, for arrestees in jail on misdemeanor charges and inmates who are homeless and mentally ill. In many cases, homeless and mentally ill inmates need social serv­ices, not jail.

The vision for a new jail facility should articulate plans for folding in reforms. The proposed design would house 1,335 inmates as well as low-security, pre-release inmates who are preparing to leave the system. If the project proceeds as planned, construction could wrap up by 2023.

In addition, Hawaii should follow the lead of other states that are effectively reducing inmate populations by modernizing policies on bail as well as classification of crimes, sentencing, parole and probation. Two years ago, Hawaii’s Legislature took a step in this direction by approving a law that allows the release of some types of low-level nonviolent inmates from OCCC.